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QMI Agency

DARTMOUTH, N.S. — Five children have been rescued in a national child porn operation, police say.

RCMP laid 343 charges — including charges of sexual assault, possession of child porn, and luring — as part of Operation Snapshot 3, the third phase of an ongoing sweep of online predators.

Sgt. Mike Petrilli told a news conference Thursday morning that 150 people are currently under investigation.

As part of the investigation, which was launched in February and co-ordinated by the RCMP's National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre, police in 40 jurisdictions seized more than one million images.

"These images are not simply children having a bubble bath," Petrilli said. The images show children who are "clearly being sexually assaulted" and they show infants and toddlers.

Two of the children rescued were from British Columbia and there was one each from Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick. These were prepubescent victims of sexual assault or a related offense, police said.

"It's not just sharing of child pornography, there is some physical abuse," Petrilli said.

"We are making a difference, we will continue to do so," Petrilli said.

Insp. Bob Resch said he could not speak of individual cases as they are before the courts, but did say "they are solid cases."

Operation Snapshot in 2012 focused on Prairie and Northern regions of Canada, while Snapshot 2 focused on Atlantic Canada. In those two operations, five children were rescued and 54 people were arrested.

Resch said there are no plans currently for a Snapshot 4. However, there are similar investigations ongoing across the country.